We're made from clay but also from a spirit that is not of this world. Negotiations between the two are now in session. Meanwhile, you may find here some reviews, commentary, translations, short fiction, links to various articles, excerpted quotes, exegesis, and anything else that has a chance to kindle, edify, anger, or draw a yawn. •••Twitter••• @i_abusharif

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Formal Letter to Pope

An open letter from a group of Muslim scholars of the East and the West intended for the Pope may be found here on Islamica Magazine. Among the 38 signatories, several are familiar to many of us in the West, including Sh. Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Sh. Abd al-Hakim Murad Winter, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Sh. Nuh Ha Mim Keller.

Also, Google has aggregated 100 plus media sources worldwide that have picked up this story. Go here to Ayatollah Google.

Someday we may remember Pope Benedict with fondness (no sarcasm intended, only irony) that his unfortunate comments put together a cross-cultural group of Muslim scholars of eastern and western experiences. Sounds cool to me. I'd like to see this august group meet and come forward with "letters" on many of the compelling issues of our day, those that are controversial or, better yet, everyday blights of modern living and their impact on our sense of the sacred.

Thanks for stopping by. It's a start that this varied group gathered (in virtual reality), so that the bigger things can be addressed intelligently and with credibility. On another note, your writings this month were inspiring. Long live Ramadan.

About Me

Twitter: @i_abusharif
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Born and raised in the Chicago area, Ibrahim is a professor of journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar. His research interests include the intersection of media and culture; literary journalism; media in the Arab world; and religion and media. He is also a journalist and a writer of non-fiction and fiction. His articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, both print and online. He has also worked closely on translation projects of the Quran. And he finds it very interesting to write about himself in the third person like this. It's possible he'll revise this introduction and be more personable. But "not now!" he says. (Email: fromclay1@yahoo.com)